“How’d that go?” I whispered to Becca as we took our seats on the raft.
“Let’s talk tonight” was all she said back.
Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long. We didn’t have much of the river left to cover that day. We reached our campsite by 5:30. While the guides were setting up camp and making dinner preparations, Becca and I found a secluded spot upriver to talk.
“So,” I asked, “what did she say?”
“I’m not even sure where to begin.” Becca had an inscrutable look on her face. “Not surprisingly, Brent is not taking this well. I think he believes it was an honest mistake — on both your parts — but he just doesn’t understand how Lisa could have let it happen. She said he kept asking her things like ‘why didn’t you use your flashlight?’ and ‘why didn’t you talk to him sooner?’ He’s just really hurt and upset and he kept telling her he’s not sure how he can get past this, how he can ever look at her the same.”
“Jesus, that’s not good.”
“No. But I get it. Part of me feels that way too, but I’m also not a guy. I get that this might be even harder for him.”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking all afternoon about how I’d react if I were him. And honestly, I’m not sure I would be any different. I’d like to think I’d be as mature about this as you’ve been, Becca, but I don’t know…”
“What would it take for you to get over it?”
“I really don’t know. Honestly, part of me would want to get even somehow…” I stopped myself right there. I had a feeling I’d just walked into a trap.
“You know, it’s funny you should say that, Clint. Apparently, Brent said almost the exact same thing.” I wondered where she was going with this. “He told Lisa that the only way to make it right was for him to sleep with me.”
I just stared at Becca for a full five seconds, waiting for her to say something else. Then it hit me. “Wait, are you serious? Is that what Lisa was trying to talk you into that whole time? She’s okay with that insane idea?”
“I think she’d do anything to make it up to him, to get him to forgive her.”
“Are you telling me you think that’s a good idea?” I asked incredulously.
“I didn’t at first, no. But we talked about it for a long time. And to be fair, it wouldn’t be anything more than what you’ve already done.”
“You know that’s not true,” I bristled. “We’re talking about you and Brent having sex, knowingly, with full awareness of what you’re doing. I had no idea I was having sex with Lisa. The whole encounter was brief. It wasn’t even a completed act. It was nothing like intentionally sleeping with another person.” I paused to catch my breath and gather my thoughts. “That wouldn’t be making us even. It would be going much further than Lisa and I did.”
“I guess that’s fair,” she said in a measured tone. “So what if you did get to finish what you started? What if you spent the night with Lisa while I spent the night with Brent? And when it’s done, we call it even.”
I just stared at her, not believing what I was hearing. Was this really my wife talking? Could she really be on board with this idea? “This is the solution you and Lisa came up with, isn’t it? And you just led me right into it…”
Becca smiled in the way she always did when she’d out-manoeuvred me. This was what it was like being married to a lawyer,
“So you’re really serious about this?” I finally asked. She nodded. “How did Lisa convince you?”
“It took a while. But she just kept saying ‘the damage is already done; the line’s already been crossed.’ And I think she’s right about that. We can’t undo what’s happened. But maybe by taking things just a little further, we can at least make sure no one comes away feeling like the victim here.”
I had to admit, she had a point. But was I really okay with letting my wife sleep with Brent? And did I actually have a choice? “When would this happen?” I finally asked.
“Why not tonight? Let’s just rip the Band-Aid off, get it over with, and hope we can move on with our lives. Otherwise the rest of the trip is guaranteed to be awkward and unpleasant.”
BOOK THREE
Chapter One: The Swap
So that’s how I found myself, no more than four hours later, lying on a cot, getting ready to spend the night with one of my wife’s best friends. It was surreal. We had deliberately waited until everyone else in the camp had retired to their cots, not wanting to draw attention to the partner swap that was about to occur. There was no cloud cover, so it wasn’t quite as dark as the night before. The stars were out, at least those that weren’t blocked by the towering canyon walls. So when Lisa approached, I could actually see who she was, at least once she got within a few feet of me.
Without saying anything, she lay down on top of Becca’s sleeping bag on the cot next me. She was on her side, facing me. We stayed like that for a while, somewhat awkwardly, neither of us knowing quite what to do or say. But, by agreement, we had two hours, so there was no need to rush anything.
“Are you really okay with this?” I finally asked. “I mean, with Becca and Brent, you know…”
“Fucking each other?” she finished, “no, not at all. But it’s the only way he’s ever going to get over this. And I deserve it; I’m the idiot who can’t find my way back to my own damn cot, who ends up hopping on someone else’s cock.” Despite the bitterness in her words, there was some playfulness in her tone too. Lisa was a sarcastic person by nature.
“You shouldn’t beat yourself up over it. It was a crazy thing, but it could have happened to anyone.”
“Yeah, anyone in a badly written porn movie.” She gave a half smile. “Don’t take what I’m saying the wrong way, Clint. I don’t want to make it sound like it wasn’t fun, at least while it lasted. It was pretty hot, actually. And I really should have known sooner…” She trailed off.
“What do you mean? What gave me away?”
She hesitated, “I… shouldn’t say.” I raised my eyebrow in curiosity. She didn’t answer immediately.
“Fine,” she finally answered, “let’s just say that you felt a little… bigger… you know… down there… than what I’m used to.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. “You know, I should have known too. What you were doing, facing away and moving your hips like that, that’s not something she does. The funny thing is though, if you’d been facing me, I would have known instantly. Your breasts are twice the size of Becca’s.”
She smiled at that.
It was then that I leaned in and kissed her. We kissed slowly at first, gently, with just our lips, our hands still at our sides. But her hand soon moved to my chest and mine to her thigh. For a long time, we did little more than kiss, but the intensity of our kissing continued to grow. And then the clothes started to come off. It started with my t-shirt, then her shorts, leaving her in just her panties and a tank top. She had no bra underneath.
After some more kissing and groping, she pushed me onto my back, crawled on top of me, and continued kissing me urgently. I had one hand on her ass and with the other I reached up and moved the strap of her tank top down her right shoulder, freeing her right breast. A moment later, it was in my mouth and she let out a sigh.